


An Outsider's View (Or Iwaizumi having to deal with his best friend who is in love)

by AnotherHydrangea



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Brazil Arc, Canon Compliant, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Getting Together, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, It might have a very slow pace for some readers, Kinda?, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, POV Iwaizumi Hajime, Post-Time Skip, Slow Burn, literary wrote this in different days from 1 am to 4am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26584066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherHydrangea/pseuds/AnotherHydrangea
Summary: In all his 17 years of dealing with the dumbass Oikawa was, Iwaizumi had never seen him so work out over another person. Though he could see why, it was hard not to feel drawn into the ball of sunshine named Hinata Shouyou.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 18
Kudos: 240





	An Outsider's View (Or Iwaizumi having to deal with his best friend who is in love)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Haikyuu!! fic because I somehow ended up stuck on this fandom again, and I 100% blame this couple.

In all his 17 years of dealing with the dumbass Oikawa was, Iwaizumi had never seen him so work out over another person. Though he could see why, it was hard not to feel drawn into the ball of sunshine named Hinata Shouyou.

Iwaizumi would pinpoint their first practice match against Karasuno as the moment when Oikawa fell for Hinata. 

That day the captain had arrived late and, of course, as soon as he entered the gym the girls began to cheer for him. If Iwaizumi hadn’t been occupied with the game he would have already hit Oikawa with a ball.

As soon as Oikawa was switched in, their team started to catch up on the points they were behind. He felt a little bit sorry about the blonde guy that was being targeted by the ungodly serves Oikawa was doing. Knowing the captain, he probably had observed and analyzed the other team to see who were the weaker receivers.

However, when the blonde guy,Tsukishima –his name was on his uniform – managed to receive the ball, something none of them would have expected to happen happened. After a couple of moves Kageyama and the tiny boy made an awesome quick, but most importantly, the orange hair boy spiked dangerously close to Oikawa’s face. If that wasn’t a challenge he surely didn’t know what it was.

Something on Oikawa clicked after that match. 

Oikawa has always had a shitty personality, there’s no way Iwaizumi would deny that, so when he heard from his friend that he went to gates to “talk” to Karasuno’s team he was not surprised, still, when he heard him saying sincere compliments about Hinata he was dumbfounded. 

Iwaizumi didn’t hear Oikawa mention the other’s boy name after that, so he thought that maybe that sudden admiration had been something ephemeral.

Boy he was wrong.

~❈~

After they faced Karasuno at the Interhigh, Oikawa won’t simply shut up for over a week about Hinata’s attempts of saving the game, he even expresses some concern if he would ever manage to do another amazing quick with Kageyama. He eventually stopped babbling about the middle blocker.

It amazes Iwaizumi how much the dumbass can talk of someone that isn’t himself, so he starts suspecting that there is something else developing aside from immense admiration.

His suspicions became even clearer a few weeks later. 

Apparently, Oikawa encountered Kageyama by coincidence at Lil Tykes, their former underclassman had asked him for advice, he explained that apparently Kageyama and Hinata had been having troubles connecting while trying a new way of performing a quick attack. Oikawa immediately deduced that the main problem was that Tobio was pulling back his partner. So he basically told him to stop being a crybaby –Oikawa’s words– and give a try to what the shrimpy had on mind. 

When he was done Iwaizumi listened to his friend mumbling something like ‘Damn shortie pie, bringing the best out of Kageyama’, but he wasn’t entirely sure if he had heard it right. So, to say Oikawa looked pissed was short to how he actually was. 

Somewhere between their first encounter and the weeks that followed the Interhigh. Envy have turned into fear, fear became annoyance, annoyance into admiration and, without realizing it, all those feelings transformed into something stronger. 

Love. 

Not that Oikawa even noticed his feelings for the little guy. Years of faking his feelings and flirting with every single being he could, have messed with Oikawa’s adknowledge of his authentic feelings, to the point that Hanamaki and Matsukawa agreed with him that their friend was an idiot in denial. 

~❈~

Fortunately, said denial finished during the Spring Tournament qualifiers, but not before some other stuff happened first. Like running into Hinata. Iwaizumi decides to compliment him for defeating the two metters guy which backfires and makes the younger boy reply with an incoherent mess, Oikawa jokingly threatening of burying him while they can doesn’t help either and if it wasn’t enough for the poor boy, he accidentally crashed into Ushijima of all people as he was trying to escape from the dumbass. 

When Iwaizumi finally sends Oikawa to take some fresh air after their not so pleasant encounter with Ushiwaka, he notices that Hinata is gone and with him his almost nonexistent hope of making the idiot realize his very obvious feelings for the boy.

It must be his lucky day because a few minutes of that chaotic encounter, just as he’s about to enter the bathroom the middle blocker is coming out, they share a short greet before Hinta asks him stammering, out of nowhere and very loudly if he could have Iwaizumi’s number.

Iwaizumi looked at him bewildered and took a minute to process what the boy just said. Before he could think what to answer, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. 

“Why my number and not Shittykawa’s?” 

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he immediately wanted to hit himself on the face for asking that. Especially since so far only Hanamaki, Matsukawa and him knew about Oikawa’s feelings for the boy that was standing in front of him. Still, he didn’t mind giving his number and he could use this unexpected turn of events to get to know the boy that his best friend was clearly pinning for. But knowing the drama Oikawa will pull on him if he knew this was happening, he would rather know the reason beforehand.

“Are you kidding? I don’t want to die!” Hinata exclaimed, looking very flustered. “Grand King is very intimidating – well, not that you are not intimidating too– but you are way more approachable than him.”

Iwaizumi had to bite his tongue really hard to not laugh. If Oikawa was around and heard his crush saying those words, he would probably sulk for weeks. Without further questions they exchange numbers.

“Feel free to write to me whenever you want, and if you ever need help just tell me,” he said calmly. 

Hinata’s face brightened at the statement. He could help but to think how adorable the boy was.

“Thank you, Iwaizumi-san,” he bowed lowly. “Good luck and see you in the court!” he said heartil before running away.

Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smile fondly at the boy, the energy that Hinata irradiated was contagious. No wonder he had Oikawa wrapped around his finger. 

In all honesty, he doesn’t know how his friend hasn’t really noticed the way his eyes never left Karasuno’s number ten when he’s on the court. How his interest in the game only flared when the orange-haired boy was involved. Or how he smiled fondly whenever Hinata smiled excitedly after winning the match. All those expressions are new for Iwaizumi, after all, he has never seen Oikawa in love. This new side intrigued him and he wouldn’t mind seeing it more.

Later that night he received a message from Hinata, thanking him for giving him his contact and challenging him by saying that Karasuno will definitely win against Aoba Johsai. The boy of course uses emojis just like his idiotic friend and just for a second he believes those two are made for each other.

“It’s weird to see you smile Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said trying to sound uninterested even though it was obvious it was not the case. “Is it a girl?” he asked teasingly.

“You wished Kusokawa. It’s just a new friend,” he shrugged him off.

“Oh, that new friend must be someone interesting to make you smile like that. I might get jealous of this new friend.”

Iwaizumi knew that he was being only dramatic, but he decided to say something that would erase that smile.

“You would only get jealous if it was Hinata,” he said in the most monotone voice he could.

Oikawa froze almost instantly. “Chibi-chan?” he said so low that it might have been a whisper. “You are kidding right, Iwaizumi?” he tried to smile like he usually did but it was clearly a fake smile.

Wow. If Oikawa was using his full name it meant that what he said had actually affected him. He hated to lie, but seeing how his friend was reacting he decided to change the truth a little.

“Calm down, Oikawa,” he sighed while showing him his phone, not before he had changed the chat with Hinata to another one. “See? It’s only Sugawara.”

“Mr. Refreshing?” Oikawa sighed relieved. Iwaizumi was so going to kill this guy one day.

“Yeah, we like to complain about our teammates from time to time,” he said nonchalantly. And it was true that they liked to complain about their constantly annoying teammates, but they also shared their experiences as vice-captain of their teams.

“Hmmm, somehow I can see that. Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because you are such a drama queen,” he frowned. “And please, just do everyone a favor and acknowledge your feelings for Hinata already,” he said before retaking their walk back home. He might not have told his friend about having Hinata’s number or even about the message, but he was done with the dumbass not admitting his crush. 

Oikawa didn’t say anything else for the rest of the road which was odd but not unpleasant. When they said their goodbyes he noticed how the brunette seemed lost in thought. Another unusual behavior from Oikawa but Iwaizumi was too tired to deal with it, he would talk to the idiot the next day. That would have been the ideal thing to do, but the dumbass calling him at one in the morning had other plans.

“You realized that we have a game later today, right? Trashykawa?” he groaned. He was still too tired to go out of his house and comit murder.

“I’m such an idiot, aren’t I?” the calmed voice on the other side of the phone and not being called by his nickname immediately put Iwaizumi on alert. This wasn’t normal.

“You are, but why do you care all of a sudden?” and at such an ungodly hour. Wait. “Tell me this is not about what I told you last night?” silence. Iwaizumi sighed slightly annoyed at how hyper fixated his friend could be. “Oikawa, this is not really the best time to talk about it. Especially when we are going against Hinata and his team tomorrow.”

“Right,” he sighed. “I guess I choose the worst time to catch up with my feelings.”

“Yes, but you have never been good when it comes to sentimental stuff,” he pointed out.

“Iwa-chan, so mean!” he whined in mock pain. Now that was the drama queen Iwaizumi knew.

“Go to sleep, I promise we’ll talk about it tomorrow after the match,” he said before yawning. They really needed to rest.

“Okay. Thanks Iwaizumi,” the last part was said in such a small voice that it almost got lost when Oikawa hung up.

Iwaizumi let a small sigh out. ‘Tomorrow is going to be rough.’

~❈~

Truth to be told, they did not expect to lose against Karasuno. Sure, the team had gotten stronger but so did Aoba Johsai’s team. He couldn’t help but to partly blame himself for not being able to score that last point. On the trip back home, his teammates have assured him that it wasn’t his fault, and in a very tearful way they called him the best ace they could have asked for. To say that didn’t warm his heart would have been a lie.

He didn’t talk to Oikawa that night, both of them being physically and mentally exhausted to talk at all. Even their usual walk home was silent and they only seemed to be able to say their goodbyes with a small wave. 

The next morning he woke up with no news from Oikawa. Not even his usual whining of having lost against Karasuno or the complaints over Ushijima annoying the hell out of him. No, his morning was unusually quiet for the first time in months. Maybe Oikawa was still too tired dealing with the aftermath of the day before.

Iwaizumi actually contemplated not leaving his home for the whole day and waiting until his friend contacted him. Still, he decided to get out of his house and travel to the Sendai City Gymnasium where the match between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa was taking place. He hesitated whenever he should ask Oikawa if he wanted to go with him, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he shouldn’t have.

His suspicion turned out to be right when he found Oikawa hiding in the very last seat row of the gymnasium. He sat down a couple of seats away from Oikawa, but not far away to talk about the game and the team's performance. He was always amazed by Oikawa’s way of analyzing and figuring out other people when it came to volleyball, always scrutinizing the way each team member worked with each other. It was both fascinating and terrifying. But not as interesting as it was to listen to his friend constantly complimenting and showing nothing but respect –and maybe a little bit of annoyance – when it came to Hinata’s gameplay. It was completely amusing.

Once the match had finished, Oikawa ushered them to get back home. His pride would not let him see Karasuno being awarded as the winners without feeling bitter about their team not being the one being rewarded instead. However, fate seemed to want to make Oikawa feel even worse because they were just getting to the main door when they heard a very familiar voice calling them.

“Grand King? Iwaizumi-san?” Hinata looked at them in complete shock. Kageyama standing right next to him seemed also surprised to see them there.

‘Crap, we’ve been discovered,’ Iwaizumi cursed on his head before he spoke. “Yo, Hinata, Kageyama. Congratulations for winning,” he said in the most calmed voice he could. 

“What are you doing here? Iwaizumi-san? Oikawa-san?” Kageyama eyed them like he was still processing that his two former senpai were there.

“We just came to see the match, nothing else,” he shrugged like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

He side-eyed Oikawa when the other didn’t say a thing, in fact he looked like he just froze up which was very out of character for him. However, Iwaizumi noticed that his jaw was clenched and that he was looking down, more like glaring at something. He followed the direction of his friend's eyes and then he saw how Kageyama and Hinata kept their hands linked. 

He held his breath for a second before acting fast. He needed to get Oikawa out of there. 

“Well, if you excuse us we need to get going, you two should get back with your team,” he said before dragging Oikawa with him out of the gymnasium without letting the younger boys say anything else, it might have a bit impolite from him, but for the moment making sure that Oikawa was fine was his top priority.

“Iwaizumi-san! Grand King!” apparently that wasn’t going to stop a certain orange-haired boy from following them. 

He stopped when he felt Oikawa tugging his arm who finally got out of whichever kind of trance he used to be. He gave him a small smile to assure him that he would be found, only then Iwaizumi let him go.

“What is it, Chibi-chan?” Oikawa asked with one of his fake smiles, this one seemed more fake than the habitual, probably because he was trying to mask his sadness. It made Iwaizumi’s heart sting whenever he saw that kind of expression on Oikawa’s face. 

“I-Uhm… thank you for everything!” he said loudly while bowing very lowly at both of them.

Before the elders could even form a word, Kageyama came out and shouted at Hinata. “Oi, dumbass! Come back here! Suga-san is looking for us!”

“Coming!” he squealed to the other. “See you,” was the last thing he said before running back to Kageyama’s side. The taller boy rolled his eyes before taking Hinata’s hand and lugged him inside with him.

“Goodbye,” Oikawa whispered quietly for himself.

Iwaizumi sighed heavily. Oikawa had only realized about how he felt about the boy just the day before. And with the situation they just witnessed there was definitely no way that Oikawa was going to confess his feelings to the ball of sunshine.

~❈~

Iwaizumi spent that night at Oikawa’s room. Both boys were lying down on the bed in silence. Iwaizumi kept caressing the other boy’s brown hair while the said boy cried.

“I didn’t even realize I had a crush on him until yesterday, why does it hurt so much?” Oikawa sighed, curling himself over his stomach even more.

“People say love hurts,” he said as it was a fact. Not that he even knew if that was true since he had never fallen in love.

“Well, screw them. Screw them and screw Tobio-chan,” he bellowed, voice full of jealousy and hurt.

Iwaizumi bit his lips. Kageyama didn’t do anything wrong, again. However, this wasn’t the first time –and he doubted it would be the last – that he unknowingly got something Oikawa wanted. Natural talent was something that the brunette could live without any trouble since he worked his ass off to get to where he was now. But Hinata was different, of course Oikawa could live without him, the thing was that he didn’t want to. The ray of sunshine made him genuinely smile and filled a hole on his heart he wasn’t even aware he had. He made Oikawa forget about volleyball for a few seconds and instead made him focus completely on him. That was rather amusing to see.

A random thought passed through Iwaizumi’s mind. One of those days that Matsukawa and Hanamaki were rambling about random stuff they had mentioned something called the Hanahaki disease. He didn’t remember well in what it consisted of, but he did recall the part of the flowers coming out of the mouth and that it was a kind of cursed one-sided love. 

He looked down at his now sleeping friend, who probably fell asleep of exhaustion from crying for hours, and imagined that if the Hanahaki disease was real, and somehow Oikawa caught it – he probably would –, he was pretty sure that the brunette would be coughing sweet peas, yellow tulips and maybe, just maybe, forget-me-nots.

~❈~

Months pass by in the blink of an eye and somehow here he is, at the Narita International Airport saying his goodbyes to his best friend who decided to follow his mentor and hero back to Argentina like a lost puppy. Still, there was something bothering him and it was a topic he would rather touch while they were still in the same country.

“So that’s it, you decided to run away?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Is not that-” Oikawa paused when he saw the other glaring hard at him. “Okay, partly but I’m not leaving because I’m broken-hearted. That was months ago. And even if it still hurts me to remember… I’m doing this for me. I feel that I have already given my all here, and it’s time for me to go somewhere else to continue growing.”

Iwaizumi, of course, doesn’t buy it. However he decides that if the dumbass took the decision to stay in denial and cross the biggest ocean in the world to somehow heal his broken heart he will support him,yet that doesn’t stop him from hitting Oikawa on the arm, calling him an idiot and then hugging him hard before his departure. 

“Just take care and don’t do anything stupid Shittykawa,” he whispers in the other’s ear.

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” he says reassuringly. “Also I don’t know a thing about Spanish yet so I’ll probably be staying in the department all the time I’m not training,” he laughs while scratching the back of his head nervously.

Iwaizumi got even more worried at those words.

~❈~ 

Even before he started attending university, Iwaizumi kept in contact with Oikawa, sending messages at least twice a week. Video chatting everytime they had time to spare. Iwaizumi would never deny that it was kind of hard to keep up with his friend’s new life. Honestly, if it wasn’t because the dumbass constayly posted new content on his SNS he would be even more lost of what was new. Unless it was midterms or finals week, because then, it was very convenient that his friend kept him up at ungodly hours. 

He also got texts from Hinata. Though, when he noticed that he only received messages from Karasuno’s ten strictly on weekends, he got curious and decided to tell Hinata that he could also message him during the week. The orange-haired boy protested and said that he didn’t want to be bothersome when he was already busy with his studies, Iwaizumi had to guarantee him that that wouldn’t be the case. So Hinata also started to send the occasional weekday message.

At the beginning it had felt weird when Hinata started to send him messages. Especially since he was very aware that Oikawa still had feelings for the little guy. Yet, it was nice to get to know Hinata better, he could feel his enthusiasm overflowing through the messages and couldn’t help but chuckled at some of the antics he told him about.

‘They are very similar,' he thought one day while rereading the messages he had exchanged with Hinata. 

Honestly, he was surprised he didn’t notice the similarities between Oikawa and Hinata before. Sure, the most obvious one would be that the two of them were volleyball idiots, their whole world spinned around their love for the sport and for that love only. They both had a very cheerful personality and were very, very childish at times – though Hinata had shown on more than one time that he can be more mature than Oikawa and the thought of that had made Iwaizumi laugh. They are also stubborn as hell and when they are fully determined to do something no one can stop them. And he’s not counting the vast repertoire of ridiculous expressions they can make in front of a camera, beating Matsukawa and Hanamaki with flying colors.

Sometimes when it seems the stars align he gets a message from Hinata just when he’s talking with Oikawa through Skype, he would only snort at the coincidence and let it go. But nothing could compare to that one time when the world championships were taking place and he had two volleyball idiots rambling through messages about the exact same thing. He almost turned his phone off, but decided to just turn off all the notifications and check his phone every hour. To his not surprise he had at least a hundred unread messages every time he decided to see his phone.

It was almost endearing, and scary, to imagine how those two would have acted around each other if they had been able to spend more time together aside from the competitions and practice matches. Iwaizumi knew that Oikawa would have spoiled the younger boy and Hinata would have probably inflate his idiotic ego even more. Thinking about that made Iwaizumi wish that he could have done something more to help his friend, if not to gain the affection of the boy at least to make them be closer. Maybe Hinata’s presence would have made Oikawa a bit less insecure about himself.

He couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of something that could never be.

~❈~ 

It seemed that life loved to prove Iwaizumi wrong. He wasn’t sure but he had a hunch.

He was walking around Tokyo after doing some errands one of his professors had tasked him to – he had to go and observe how some clinics specialized on athletes worked, nothing to difficult, but it took a lot of time – and now he was looking for some ridiculous alien plush toy Oikawa had gotten obsess with.

‘Next time you go to Tokyo could you buy this? I can’t find anything remotely close to it around here,’ he had asked him.

It was completely stupid how his friend get over his space fixion. Still, the said friend had gotten him a small Godzilla keychain two months ago and had never once questioned his still existent fascination toward the kaiju. 

He was so busy cursing under his breath that almost jumped out of his skin when someone suddenly called his name. 

“Iwaizumi-san?”

“Oh, hello Kageyama, long time no seen,” he greeted politely, recovering quickly from the startlement.

It had been already three years since he had crossed paths with his former underclassman. A day that neither he nor Oikawa liked to remember. And even if Oikawa continue to declare that he was definitely over Hinata, to the point he had already dated and had flings on the forein country, Iwaizumi knew very well that it was a lie, however if that made the dumbass feel at least a little bit better he decided that he was no one to deny him that – though, deep down of his soul he felt that what Oikawa was doing was not good. 

“I guess so?” he answered awkwardly. “I thought you were in the U.S., Ushijima-san mentioned that he encountered you back in California a year ago?”

Huh. So Ushiwaka had talked about him to Kageyama. Were they even close? “Well, the plan is to go back to California after I’m done with college here, I still have to finish one year for that to happen.”

“Oh,” Kageyama looked slightly surprised. “Sounds like a good plan,” he said honestly which made Iwaizumi feel a little bit blissful.

Just then, something clicked on Iwaizumi's mind. He might not have seen Kageyama in a long time, but he doubted that the boy would always go around wearing a turtleneck shirt below a leather jacket. Worn out jeans, sure, but the turtleneck was suspicious.

“You look extremely dressed up for someone who just got out of practice, are you going somewhere?”

Kageyama blinked a couple of times before he blushed furiously. “I… .”

‘Oh. Oh!’ Iwaizumi couldn't help but feel embarrassed at how straightforward the question was. He almost sounded like Kunimi. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to answer that.”

“Don’t worry Iwaizumi-san, I don’t mind,” he sighed, still looking flustered. “I was actually on a blind-date,” he groaned and buried his head into his hands.”

The gears on Iwazumi’s head started to move as he processed what the guy said, he wanted to ask ‘Then what about Hinata?’, but he could only say one word.

“What?” he immediately hit his forehead with his palm. He hated himself sometimes.

“My teammates sometimes like to prank me and they set me up on random dates a couple of times,” Kageyama huffed fumy. “They say that I should have experienced love at least once before I turn twenty.”

'Wait. At least once?'

“Weren’t you and Hinata a thing back in high school?” Man, he was being extremely bold that day. If he didn’t stop any time soon he would switch his mouth once he arrived at his apartment.

“Wha- no! Hell no!” Iwaizumi tries hard not to laugh at how Kageyama’s eyes widened to then frown hard in less than a second. “Why does everyone keep asking that?”

“Oh, so I’m not the only one?” he perked up at the somehow declaration.

“Unfortunately no.” he groaned. “I bet it’s because you saw us holding hands outside the court,” when Iwaizumi nods he sighed in annoyance. “It’s all the dumbass fault.”

“How come?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“Because he kept getting lost whenever he was alone in a new place. So Suga-senpai asked me to never leave his side, that way he wouldn’t end up wandering alone and eventually getting lost again and the only way to do that was holding his hand, otherwise he would run in excitement and I would have to search for him for hours.” 

It wasn’t hard for Iwaizumi to imagine that, especially with how energetic the ball of sunshine was, he also tended to space out a lot.

“Wait, so you and Hinata are not and never were together?” 

The whole misunderstanding was a huge discovery so he just wanted to make sure that it was only that, a very messy misunderstanding and a very ugly assumption that he and Oikawa had made that fatidical day. 

The dramatic side of the dumbass on him was showing.

“I can assure you, we are strictly platonic,” Kageyama stated, with a tone of voice that said that he really didn’t want to keep talking about the matter. 

Iwaizumi hummed in understanding before throwing one last question.

“By the way, do you know anything about Hinata? He hasn’t been giving any signs of existence these past weeks.”

Which was true, the orange-haired boy had been extremely quiet for two weeks now and the silence was unsettling Iwaizumi.

Kageyama frowned again, like he wasn’t expecting that Hinata and him were in contact which was understandable taking on the point that they didn’t even go to the same school.“He might still be settling down in Brazil right now, I haven’t been able to contact him either.”

Now that was a surprise. 

“Brazil? What is he doing so far?”

The other boy shrugged like it was out of his comprehension. “He decided to give a try to beach volleyball, he kept saying that it was for personal training.”

Going to the other side of the world to surpass his own boundaries. Another thing he needed to add to his growing list of things that Hinata and Oikawa had in common.

~❈~

The day he encountered Kageyama, Iwaizumi stared at his phone for hours, wondering if he should tell Oikawa about his newest discovery, but then… what would Oikawa do? What if he ends getting hurt again? 

He decided to let it pass for the moment, but when Oikawa told him a couple of weeks later that he would be in Rio for a week, he hesitated again. He should tell him, he knows it. Then again, would it be a good thing to tell him?

In the end he came to the conclusion that he should let things happen, if it was meant to be that those two met again, so be it.

So when he sees the very weird selfie that Oikawa posted on Instagram, Iwaizumi can’t help but smile a little. His friend looks genuinely happy for the first time in years.

Later that night, to his not surprise, Oikawa sent him a message.

**Shittykawa: Iwa-chan!**

**Shittykawa: What do I do? (*/∇＼*)**

**Shittykawa: I feel so happy! ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭***

**Iwaizumi: I see you found him.**

**Iwaizumi: Even more happy than when we met Jose Blanco?**

He already knew the answer but wanted to tease his friend a little.

**Shittykawa: I did! ☆*:. o(≧▽≦)o .:*☆**

**Shittykawa: And yes! Even more happy than that time! б（＞ε＜）∂**

**Shittykawa: He has grown some but he’s still shorter than me.**

**Shittykawa: And he’s still a monster!**

**Shittykawa: Where does all that energy come from!? Σ(°д°lll)**

As the messages kept appearing on the chat he sighed. ‘Can’t this idiot just write everything in one single text?’ Yet he finds himself slightly smiling and wanting to ask the question that is burning inside him.  _ ‘How is your heart?’ _ . 

**Shittykawa: Oi!**

**Shittykawa: Chibi-chan just told me you have had his number all this time! ಠ_ಠ**

**Shittykawa: How could you betray me like this Iwa-chan? ( ｰ̀εｰ́ )**

He just rolled his eyes when he read the texts. He had been expecting this specific drama for years now.

**Iwaizumi: Did you forgot how freaking intense you got when I hinted to you that I had his number?**

**Iwaizumi: And you weren’t even aware of your feelings back then Kusokawa.**

**Shittykawa: Still, why didn't you tell me?**

**Iwaizumi: Really?**

**Iwaizumi: You couldn’t see oranges without starting to cry!**

**Iwaizumi: Oranges!**

**Shittykawa: That never happened! (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞**

**Iwaizumi: The lady from the convenience store begs to differ.**

**Iwaizumi: Last time I went home she asked me if you still disliked oranges to the point you became a human waterfall.**

And so they continued to talk and bicker for hours until Oikawa fell asleep. Iwaizumi never asks the question, he doesn’t want to rush and ask away when the idiot finally got to spend time with Hinata, the one that he had yearned for years. So he waits for the dumbass to approach the elephant in the room.

Not that he has to wait for too long because two days after their encounter, two days where his phone was flooded with photos and messages from the two guys, Oikawa wrote to him.

**Shittykawa: Iwa-chan...**

**Shittykawa: Remember when I told you I was already over Hina-chan?**

Iwaizumi quirked up an eyebrow in mild surprise at the change in how Oikawa referred to the other boy. That was an interesting development.

**Iwaizumi: You mean the biggest lie you have ever said in your life?**

**Shittykawa: Iwa-chan! Mean! （πーπ）**

He snorted at the dumbass typical response.

**Shittykawa: It wasn’t a complete lie.**

**Shittykawa: Or at least I thought I did. (◞‸◟；)**

**Shittykawa: But after spending some days by his side…**

**Shittykawa: I think that I have fallen even more for him. σ(^_^;)**

Iwaizumi stared at the screen of his phone while he processed the words on it. 

The first time Oikawa had fallen for Hinta it took him five months to even realize that he had developed feelings for the younger boy. Now, after only two days he had fallen all over again for the same boys and it took him those same days to figure out his feelings for the said boy. He was very impressed.

When another message appeared on the screen he got abruptly out of his thoughts.

**Shittykawa: Don’t leave me on read when I basically just admit my feelings!**

**Shittykawa: I’m having a breakdown right now! Σ(T□T)**

**Shittykawa: What do I do? (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞**

**Iwaizumi: Just confess already.**

**Shittykawa: What if he hates me after I tell him? ヾ( •́д•̀ ;)ﾉ**

**Shittykawa: I just got him back in my life.**

**Shittykawa: I don’t want to lose him again (◞‸◟；)**

**Iwaizumi: I doubt Hinata is the kind of person that would hate you for that.**

**Iwaizumi: He’s very understanding and picks up people's emotional cues really fast.**

**Iwaizumi: Also you don't have anything to lose so just do it.**

When Oikawa didn’t answer after that, Iwaizumi suspected that he had either fallen asleep or he was panicking at 3 in the morning in Rio. The second one was the most likely to happen. He wondered if the dumbass would actually confess during the next days before his inevitable departure, he was only in Brazil for a week after all.

Around four hours later he got two messages from Hinata with a photo attached to it. The picture was a selfie of Hinata covering his mouth while trying not to laugh at Oikawa who seemed to be sleeping while sitting on the sand.

**Hinata: He fell asleep while we were meditating. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡**

**Hinata: I told him that he didn’t need to accompany me but he insisted. σ(^_^;)**

Iwaizumi smirked knowingly, the idiot must indeed have spent the whole night up trying to sort out his feelings.

**Iwaizumi: Thanks for the very needed blackmail material.**

**Hinata: Anytime Iwaizumi-san. (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))**

Iwaizumi really hoped that everything would work out between Hinata and Oikawa. Not only because his friend was authentically happy for the first time in years, but he knew that if they did get together, Hinata would provide him with lots of blackmail material for later use. Of course the happiness of his friend was first, the rest was a plus.

The remainder of the evening passed quickly, and like the days before, Iwaizumi’s phone was overflowed with pictures and messages from the places the two guys went. The last thing he read was that they were planning on going to the Sugarloaf Mountain to watch the sunset before he passed out.

When he woke up the next morning he noticed how oddly quiet his phone was. No new notifications from Hinata or Oikawa, the last message being from Oikawa saying that they were on their way to the mountain. That had been two hours before Iwaizumi read the text. To say that he wasn’t worried would be a misstatement.

He kept glancing at his phone every five minutes during the day. The silence became more and more unbearable as the time passed and it was honestly driving him crazy. Those two were rather loud, very emotional and overly sharers, so if anything bad or good had happened they would have notified him almost instantly. At least he was very certain of that.

So when finally, finally his phone started to rang he almost sprinted while trying to answer. Oikawa was calling him, that was odd, still he answered right away.

“Oikawa, what the hell happened? None of you gave living signals for hours,” he didn’t even try to mask his voice full of concern and annoyment. He wanted explanations and soon.

Oikawa’s breath hitched and sounded like he was actually holding his breath. “Iwa-chan…,” he whispered when he was able to breath again. There was still something unusual about his tone of voice, but Iwaizumi couldn’t put his finger on it. “I kissed Shouyou.”

Iwaizumi tensed for a second. That was so unexpected that he was caught completely off guard. Were they okay? Has Hinata accepted his feelings or he had rejected him? And why was the dumbass so quiet?

“And he kissed me back,” Iwaizumi could feel how a smile formed on the lips of the other man. Even his voice was… oh, that was what he couldn’t identify just a minute ago. Ecstasy. His best friend was in complete ecstasy.

In all honesty, if Oikawa and him were in the same room he would already have hit the other very hard on the arm for making him overly worried in vain. He would have hugged him later, but the punch would have been first.

“Finally,” he sighed in complete relief. “It took you forever to confess.”

“He actually admitted that he had a crush on me since we first met,” he squealed. Iwaizumi huffed incredulously. “And that he had wanted to confess when they defeated Shiratorizawa, but he decided last minute to not do so because he thought I would not reciprocate his feelings.”

“You realized that was three years ago, right Shittykawa?” Iwaizumi pointed out. It was kind of impressive that those two had fallen for each other almost at the same time to then fall all over again just by seeing each other for a couple of days.

“I know,” he sighed wistfully. “I still can't believe that this actually happened. The moment was so heartwarming, we were watching the sunset and then by the corner of my eye I saw how the orange of the sky reflected on him, the view was so breathtaking and I just… I couldn’t take it anymore and I confessed to him. He was so red when he finally looked at me, he looked so flustered and dismayed,” he chuckled. “It was so cute that it made me want to kiss him, I asked if I could kiss him and I did when he nodded shyly. When he kissed me back I felt like I was dreaming. Then he confessed his past crush on me and that he ended catching stronger feelings during the days we spent together-”

“Yeah, about that,” Iwaizumi cut his friend off before he could continue with his enamored soliloquy. “What are you going to do? Don’t you have to go back to Argentina tomorrow?”

“We... haven’t talked about that yet,” he said awkwardly. “But definitely I am not going to let him get away from me. I won’t run away like last time. Not now that I finally have him.”

It was the first time Iwaizumi had heard Oikawa talk so firmly about something completely unrelated to volleyball. Well, not completely since Hinata was as much as a volleyball freak than Oikawa, honestly. However, it was satisfying to listen to his best friend say that he was done with running away from his feelings after three long years.

“About time,” he grinned. “Now just make sure to not scare the boy away with that horrible personality you have. I like Hinata, so if you dare to hurt him just remember that you will not only have me flying all the way to Argentina to beat you up, but also at least 20 people more will go after you.”

“I’m aware of that Iwa-chan, no need to remind me of that!” he whined sounding slightly terrified. “But I swear, the last thing I want is to hurt him. I would never hurt Shouyou, he’s… he’s the most important and precious person in my life.”

And that was something Iwaizumi would never question because he knew that Hinata was the sun that Oikawa so desperately needed in his life.

~❈~

A couple of hours after that last phone call, Oikawa and Hinata became official. Though only Iwaizumi and Oikawa’s teammates knew about their relationship. It wasn’t a secret, really, the people around them were aware that Hinata and Oikawa had a long distance relationship, they just never figured out who their significant other was–some people even thought that Oikawa was dating a girl. Aoba Johsai alumni suspected that Iwaizumi knew about the mysterious person but he never confirmed nor denied a thing – although Hanamaki and Matsukawa had their suspicions – because even if he did know it was not of his business to tell other people about the couple.

Also, long distance relationships were hard, they were already struggling enough to let other people tattle about them and what they had. The first two years of the relationship had been ‘easy’ thanks to their quick escapes between Brazil and Argentina. But it got a lot more complicated the following years when Hinata had returned to Japan. You couldn’t compare a four hour flight to an exhausting almost twenty-four hour flight. 

Nevertheless, one time Oikawa somehow had managed to escape from his pro player life just to spend a whole week with Hinata after his team had won against Kageyama and Ushijima’s team. 

It had been hilarious to see everyone’s reactions to the ‘sudden’ interactions between the lovebirds –and yet no one suspected that they were dating. Not that any of them spent as much time as Iwaizumi did with them to actually see how sickening their interactions were. It was like seeing a newly wed couple still on the honeymoon phase. 

All of Hinata’s teammates and friends assumed that they were just very close friends who were very into PDA. They figured that the two guys had acquired a couple of habits from the South American countries, so they didn’t question their behavior that much, not even when Oikawa behaved possessively whenever Kageyama or Atsumu were around. 

That was of course until they saw the couple sharing a rather passionate kiss at the airport before Oikawa’s departure. After that the pandemonium erupted. Iwaizumi only watched in amusement from afar how they were bombarded with questions by everyone that had gone to see Oikawa off. The funniest reaction belonged to Kageyama who was in utter shock by the whole situation just to snap at Hinata, once he had recovered from the initial astonishment, for hiding such important information to him. Hinata only laughed and argued that none of them had asked him the name of his boyfriend. That was enough to shut him off and make Oikawa proud.

~❈~

Less than two years later, Iwaizumi found himself being part of Japan’s Olympic volleyball team as an athletic trainer. Saying that he wasn’t nervous would be a huge lie, he was scared as hell. Especially since their next match was against Argentina’s team which meant that they would be finally facing Oikawa. 

The waiting room was already filled up with anticipation, every single one of the players looked ready to go out on the court and play. Nervousness and anxiousness must be left behind once they are called. There were no excuses, they had to play their best, this was their country, their home, their people and they would not let them down. 

Yet, Iwaizumi’s attention was focused solely on one of the players. 

“I bet you are excited,” he said as he approached the number 10 who was tapping his fingers against his thighs in a mixture of impatience, anxiety and expectation. 

“Of course I am! ”Hinata beamed at him. “We are at the Olympics after all!” he chirped a little making the rest of the team snort. If only they all had the amount of energy and cheerfulness he possessed. 

“You know what I mean Hinata,” Iwaizumi pointed out, quirking up an eyebrow unimpressed. 

“Oh, that. Do you even doubt it Iwaizumi-san?” he smirked knowingly.

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes in disbelief, that sly little bastard. The once innocent little boy he had met during high school was long gone, now there was a young man that was more than ready to play against his boyfriend’s team without holding anything back.

Not even ten minutes later someone called at their door, the time had finally come.

Even before they entered the court, they were greeted by the more than animated audience, they know that somewhere between the sea of people some of their friends, family and acquaintances are present cheering for them. It’s honestly breathtaking. The roaring crowd just makes them want to give their all during the match even more. Needless to say, the Japanese volleyball team was in very high spirits.

Not long after they had walked into the stage, the Argentine team made themselves present with no other than Oikawa on the front of the line.

To no one’s surprise, Hinata ran to hug the life out of his boyfriend who returned the hug eagerly while nuzzling his face against the orange hair of his lover. Both of them shared laughs and a couple of chaste kisses, much to the Japanese team dismay. The Argentine team on the other hand didn’t seem to mind their behaviour and even cheered for them playfully. 

Iwaizumi sighed in displeasure, knowing that he would have to untangle those two from each other, again, so they could start the match. And he did, of course not without hearing the complaints of the couple or their imploring of letting them stay together just for five more minutes. 

“Five more minutes my ass,” he glowered. “Especially when it comes from the two of you. You don’t have any sense of time when you are together.”

“But Iwaizumi-san,” Hinata whined in protest.

“Nothing, now go back with the team,” his voice made clear that there wouldn’t be any negotiation. “You can spend as much as you want with this dumbass AFTER the match.”

“Fine,” Hinata pouted before letting his boyfriend go and run to where his team was gathered.

At that moment Iwaizumi felt more like a babysitter than an actual athletic trainer, but he had always acted like a babysitter whenever Oikawa was around. He looked at his friend with impassive eyes, the other man didn’t seem to notice since his eyes were still fixated on Hinata, the fondness on them when he looked at his boyfriend was undeniable.

“So, are you going to do it?” Iwaizumi asked intently out of the blue.

Oikawa got out of his trance when he heard the question, he turned his attention to him looking slightly dumbfounded before smiling wittingly. He had told Iwaizumi of his plans some weeks ago, turning them into their most recent secret.

“Tonight,” Oikawa answered, still smiling. “But first I have to win this game.” The fondness that had been present on his eyes a few minutes before transformed into determination. Those were the kind of eyes Iwaizumi knew very well, except this time he was on the other side of the net. The day of their long awaited fight had finally arrived. He was fire up

“I want to see you try,” he grinned challengingly before going back to his team.

As he reunited with his team, Iwaizumi noticed Hinata being scowled by Kageyama, probably for his lack of manners when they were being broadcasted on international streaming. He ruffled his orange hair in reassurance before speaking of their strategy for the match.

During the match he didn’t miss the gazes Oikawa and Hinata gave each other, they were different than their usual lovesick ones, they were defying, still full of love but challenging. He let out a chuckle because that was so like them. Always pushing the other to give their best inside and outside the court, making each other grow even if it was indirectly before they got together. They were reunited on their lowest point, and they had brought each other back on their feet, after that they became stronger than they had ever been.

He would never say it outloud, but he was extremely grateful to Hinata for loving his very problematic best friend. Oikawa was happier, his smiles were more genuine and he was definitely more at ease when Hinata was around. Hinata meant the world to Oikawa. Hinata was his sun and Oikawa didn’t want to live without his warm love. 

And that was why a few days before, Iwaizumi had helped him to find a ring that could reflect his feelings for Hinata and held a promise yet to be made. Iwaizumi knew that Oikawa would never propose unless he knew that his lover would say yes.

He silently wished for their happiness to never end.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun while writing this and I had never used this many emojis on my entire life.  
> Anyways, hope you liked it.
> 
> Come say hi:  
> [Tumblr](https://anotherhydrangea.tumblr.com)  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/anothrhydrangea)
> 
> Hanakotoba (Japanese flower language):
> 
> Sweet Pea: Goodbye.  
> Yellow Tulip: Hopeless love, unrequited love.  
> Forget-Me-Not: True love.


End file.
